A Shot in the Dark (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE...

Today, I have 3 really good stories that all, in their own way, demonstrate that sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction. You can WATCH all new & exclusive MrBallen podcast episodes on my YouTube channel, just called "MrBallen" - https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen If ...  Show more

One night in December 2011, a man sat in an internet cafe, anxiously staring at the words he’d just typed into a chat window. He was about to share his darkest secret with someone he’d only ever talked to online. It was the kind of secret that could destroy him, and he knew sendi ...  Show more

After getting an early morning call about a body at an apartment complex, police officers canvass the area and interview the neighbors for clues. Detectives suspect it’s a so-called “body dump,” especially since nobody at the apartment complex seems to have heard anything the nig ...  Show more

On July 19, 2007, Timothy MacNeil, a prominent defense attorney, was shot to death in his San Diego home. The only witness was his 17-year-old stepdaughter, Brae Hansen, who was found tied up at the scene. She told police that a masked gunman had broken in and committed the murde ...  Show more

In October 2020, Lauryn Licari and her boyfriend Owen, both 13-years-old at the time, started receiving weird text messages about themselves from an unknown number. These weird messages would ramp up over the next few years, getting violent, graphic, and encouraging Lauryn to sel ...  Show more

Once the social media posts go viral, the detectives on the case start feeling the pressure to solve it. They get calls from TikTok tipsters at all hours of the day and night reporting sightings of the suspect all over California and the Western United States. After continuously ...  Show more